This will blow your mind

Did you know that nothing about the therapist’s behavior will determine the success of the therapeutic process?

Yep, it’s true. You can have the best therapist in the world, but if you’re not engaged in experiencing feelings directly in the body, chances are, your therapy won’t be as effective as it could be.

This fascinating research was conducted by Eugene Genldin, a therapist and researcher who generated Focusing, a therapy and self-help modality that uses what he found in his research: listening to the body.

Gendlin wanted to understand why some therapies are more successful than others.

He gathered hundreds of recordings of therapeutic sessions.

These sessions included different therapists and clients. He analyzed them to see if there was anything about the therapist behavior or the client's behavior that was common to the ST (successful therapy) group vs. UST (unsuccessful therapy) group.

The success of therapy was measured by psychological tests that determine if there’s been positive change, as well as the therapist and clients opinions. If all three indicators are positive the therapy is deemed successful.

He didn’t find anything different about the therapists behavior between the 2 groups.

He did find that there was a clear difference between the clients in the ST group and UST group.

The common denominator among successful therapeutic experiences was that the clients naturally slowed down their speech, became less articulate when describing something vague they were feeling in their body.

As in: “I’m feeling something. I can’t quite describe what this is. It’s a funny feeling in my chest”.

The ST clients were directly experiencing something in their body as opposed to the UST clients who stayed clear and articulate throughout the session. It’s like they stayed up in their heads throughout without referring to their body at all.

As much as they analyzed or thought about their problems their therapy was unsuccessful.

So, If you’re in therapy and you’re not seeing the results you want, it might be time to try Somatic Therapy. By definition, we include the body in the therapeutic process.

If you're ready to include your body in the therapeutic process, click here to set up a consultation call with me.